Re: Blue Ram deaths, Suggestions?

[David Sanchez <barbax2@yahoo.com>]

Sorry about your group of Rams Sherry. It seems you
are determined to succed and there is no doubt you
will. I am assuming you are talking about wild Rams
and so I will offer my advice accordingly.

The first thing I would do is quarantine! Though they
do not have many of the "plagues" associated with the
"asian" or German Rams all Imported fish have
potential problems of their own. I have done numerous
necropsys on wild Rams, and am convinced unless we
treat them properly we are playing Russian Roulet. I
often do routine autopsys on a new shipment to learn
about what potential pathegons I  may be dealing with.
I have gained some insight and hopefully I can offer
some solid advice here.

First of all the problem does not lay with the fact
that they are wild fish but rather the handling they
recieve in transit. They are severly crowded and
pathegons are given a favorable condition in which to
spread. Parasites such as ich and costia run rampant
at many Fish Dealers establishments and we as hobbyist
will do well to treat all new Dwarfs with a good
quarantine protocol. Very often the fishes natural
defenses coupled with a superior environment( ie:
water changes, plants, live and frozen foods) will
succeed for the hobbyist at home. Of couse it helps to
select fish that appear to be healthy but even this is
not a sure fire way. I recently disected some Dwarf
Pikes that after a period of a week a few of them
began to show stress. Most looked to be in perfect
health and were eating very aggresivly. A disection
revealed an intestinal diagenic fluke but this was not
my main concern. More pressing was the secoundary
bacterial infection that after a period began to have
exponential growth woulkd have killed all my Pikes. So
after treating the Bacteria the parasites were then
eliminated.

 The lesson here is that we should quarantine all
fish, especialy wild fish! Even though they may appear
healthy there is much we cannot see.My reccomendation
is to first of all start with a source for your fish
that is reputable and hopefully quarantines their
fish. If in doubt quarantine in a nice clean
environment. In time you will develope your own
methods that work best for you. Wild Rams are the best
in my opinion and I much prefer them to the Asian or
German Rams. Best of Luck to you Sherry.

=====
David Sanchez
Orlando, FL
http://www.mindspring.com/~barbax
Apistogramma@mindspring.com
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